Veronica Mars Season 4: Logan Echolls Storyline Explained
We break down Logan Echolls' story arc in Veronica Mars Season 4.
Logan said it at Veronica Mars‘ Alterna-Prom, all those years ago: “I thought our story was epic, you know. You and me. Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic.” Ironically, Logan didn’t even remember saying the quote that has come to symbolize LoVe for so many ‘shippers, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful, and creator Rob Thomas knows it. That’s why the final episode of Hulu’s Season 4 revival of Veronica Mars is titled “Years, Continents, Bloodshed.”
Perhaps that should have been our first hint.
read more: Veronica Mars Season 4 Review
In some ways, Season 4 gave fans exactly what we were looking for. Logan and Veronica together in a committed relationship, eventually getting engaged and even married. Improving upon the fan-funded film, Logan’s emotionally evolution is put into context of the work it takes to get him there, like therapy and the occasional relapse into anger. His growth is also put into tension with Veronica’s stasis and her denial that anything is wrong, her refusal to go to therapy or acknowledge that she’s not actually trapped in Neptune, yet still she stays.
After the vows were said and the mystery solved, there was a sense that the other shoe was about to drop. Did you figure it out before Veronica?
Yes, Logan Echolls is really dead.
Penn Epner, the Spring Break Bomber (well, one of them…) left one final bomb in Veronica’s car. Poor Logan went to move V’s car for street cleaning, like a good brand new husband, and was blown up, albeit offscreen. We’ve “seen” other characters blown up before, like when Woody Goodman’s plane blew up at the end of Season 2 and we though Keith was inside, but it turned out he wasn’t. Logan and Veronica were not so lucky this time.
Veronica started the season telling us how she regretted taking this case more than any other. She wasn’t kidding.
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Trina is now inexplicably the only surviving Echolls, other than Veronica by marriage. Presumably there was a certain amount of tabloid and MurderHead chatter, but mostly it feels like a tragic end if Logan’s life is viewed from 1,000 feet away. The abusive father who slept with and then murdered his high school girlfriend. The distant alcoholic mother who died by suicide. The murdered girlfriends – both of he was accused of killing – and the murder he was accused of on the bridge after he was beaten. He wasn’t a saint; in fact, he was once Neptune High’s own obligatory psychotic jackass. But no one on the show grew more than Logan Echolls, and whatever else I think of the choice, it’s hard to see his character’s story end this way.
The show jumped forward a year to give us a peek at Veronica’s life without him. A time jump makes sense – after all, she lost the love of her life and that fallout will be around for a long time. The show also started with Veronica in a dark place, reflecting on the events of a year earlier, so skipping ahead works to reset things nicely if Hulu opts to continue the show for a fifth season. While many fans could never picture the show without Logan, the reality is that she could never be with anyone else as long as he was alive.
read more: How Veronica Mars Transcended Its Many Genres
It’s unfortunate that television and movies seem so disinterested in portraying committed relationships in favor of pursuit or on again-off again pairings, especially considering how rich the couple material was on this season. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a goal to rush Logan and Veronica’s decisions around marriage, which largely felt unresolved, unhealthy and forced, and end the season with a jaw-dropping moment.
If you view it as there being little left in the LoVe story to tell, killing Logan liberates Veronica to pursue her own narrative. I’m not inherently opposed to Logan’s death by any means, but it feels like the script – which had worthwhile things to say about adult relationships for seven episodes – rushed through major life decisions in the final episode as part of the narrative necessity for that death and then shrugged its shoulders as if to say, “we had no choice.”
So, are you in mourning for Logan Echolls? Would you watch another season of Veronica Mars without LoVe? Do you think she’s better off without him? Does Deputy Leo have a shot?
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